Category Archives: Education

NYC teacher Alanna O’Donnell earns Big Apple award

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New York City Special Education teacher Alanna O’Donnell has earned a coveted Big Apple award. Photo Credit: NYC Department of Education

There are many fine classroom teachers who have earned accolades for their work in the classroom. One is Alanna O’Donnell, a Special Education teacher from New York City who has earned a coveted Big Apple award.

Alanna teaches at PS K721, the Brooklyn Occupational Training Center, a high school located in Brooklyn, New York. Her students are aged 14-21 and have been diagnosed with autism.

Clearly Alanna is a teacher devoted to her students. She works tirelessly to ensure that all her students have access to rigorous community-based academic experiences, hand-on training in the skills they require to be successful in future employment and independent living, and opportunities to celebrate their success through donation-funded proms and graduation receptions.

The honored teacher has found new and inventive ways to keep her students engaged and invested in their education. One way she has done this is to implement work-based learning activities for her students by garnering donations from the community to buy groceries for her students and their families. Using these materials as part of her instruction, she creates culinary experiences for each student and supporting family member. She also offers family cooking lessons each week, highlighting cultural foods and preferences for each of her students.

Another example is the after-school group for girls she established when she saw the need for social emotional connections beyond the classroom. She calls the group the  P721K Pink Ladies.

Alanna is one of 20 New York educators who received a Big Apple award this year. Since 2012, the New York City Schools Chancellor has presented the Big Apple award to educators who have gone above and beyond to inspire students, lead school communities, or ensure their students learn course material. This year’s winners were selected by a panel which includes former Big Apple recipients, representatives of teacher unions, and Department of Education staff from a pool of more than 11,000 nominations.

Lorynn Guerrero named New Mexico’s 2022 Teacher of the Year

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Congratulations to high school English teacher Lorynn Guerrero, who has been named New Mexico’s 2022 Teacher of the Year.  Photo Credit: New Mexico Public Education Department

Congratulations are due to Lorynn Guerrero, a high school Language Arts teacher from Las Cruces, New Mexico. She has been named her state’s 2022 Teacher of the Year.

Lorynn earned her Bachelor’s degree in Secondary Education with an emphasis in English/Language Arts from New Mexico State University in 2005. She is currently enrolled in a Master’s degree program in Education Administration at Eastern New Mexico University, and will graduate in 2022. In addition, she is certified in teaching Advanced Placement in literature and composition from New Mexico Highland University and Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages from Eastern New Mexico University.

Lorynn, who was raised in Las Cruces, inaugurated her teaching career in 2006 in Hatch, where she taught both middle and high school students. She joined Las Cruces Public Schools in 2012, first teaching at Organ Mountain High.

Currently, Lorynn Guerrero teaches English to high school students at the New America School Las Cruces, a charter high school located in Las Cruces, New Mexico. She also coaches teen parents in a GRADS (graduation, reality, and dual-role skills) course. Approximately 150 traditional high school students are enrolled in the New America School, who attend from 8:45 am to 4:30 pm, Monday through Thursday. The charter high school also serves adults from ages 18 to 22, who attend classes from 5:30 pm through 8:30 pm and can earn a high school diploma.

“Ms. Guerrero is an outstanding teacher,” asserts New American School principal Margarita Leza Porter. “Her increased level of rigor, the setting of high expectations, and continual reflection on her teaching sets her apart from other educators,” Porter continues.

For her work in the classroom, Lorynn has earned many accolades. In 2021, as a member of the New America School staff, she was named the Champions of Children award by Jardin de Los Niños. In 2017, she was nominated for an Educators for Excellence by Tu Revista Latina magazine. Her first nomination for Teacher of the Year came in 2008, while she was teaching at Hatch Middle School.

 

Marilyn Johnson: Teacher, Diplomat, WWII US veteran

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Many talented classroom educators also exhibit exceptional talent in the diplomatic arena. This is certainly true of Marilyn Johnson, a high school foreign language teacher who also served our country as a diplomat. Ultimately, she became the US Ambassador to Togo.

Marilyn was born on June 19, 1922, in Boston, Massachusetts. She earned her Bachelor’s degree from Radcliffe College in 1944. As a young woman, she was quite athletic, and at one time considered pursuing a career as a physical education teacher, but chose liberal arts instead. Later, Marilyn completed courses at the University of Geneva and at the Sorbonne. Then she returned to the US and enrolled at Middlebury College in New England, where she earned her Master’s degree in French in 1952.

Marilyn was also a military veteran. During World War II, between the years of 1944 to 1946, she served in the US Navy. She trained as a midshipman, but ended up working in communications security in a job that focussed on breaking codes. She also worked for a time as a counselor at the Philadelphia Naval Hospital, where she provided occupational therapy and training to blinded servicemen.

Once she earned her Master’s degree, Marilyn accepted a position as a high school French teacher at Amherst Regional High School in Amherst, Massachusetts. There she taught French for the next seven years, while taking courses in educational psychology, the history of education, and methodology at both Harvard and Smith College. In 1960, she was selected to be part of the Fulbright teacher exchange program. Through the program, she traveled to Orleans, France, where she taught at the Lycée Jeanne d’Arc for two years. 1962, Marilyn traveled first to the African country of Cameroon and then to Mali, where she taught English as a foreign language in several schools. She left her last teaching position in 1964 when she became a diplomat in the Foreign Service.

In the Foreign Service, Marilyn accepted a position as a Cultural Affairs Officer, first in Bamako, Mali, and later in Tunis, Tunisia. She also served as a Public Affairs Officer in Niamey, Niger, and from 1971 to 1974 she served as the Deputy Assistant Director of the Information Centers Program. The following year she attended the Seminar in Foreign Policy, and after learning the Russian language, she was assigned to be a Cultural Affairs Officer in Moscow in the former Soviet Union. That was in 1976.

On Sept. 23, 1978, Marilyn was appointed to the position of Ambassador to Togo by President Jimmy Carter. She served in that position until July 29, 1981.

Today, Marilyn Johnson is 99 years old. She’s a true Chalkboard Champion!

 

American educator Jimmy Hill killed in Russian attacks on Ukraine

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American educator Jimmy Hill has been killed in the Russian attacks on Chernihiv, Ukraine. Photo Credit: Daily Beast

Jim Hill, an American educator, has been killed in the Russian attacks on Chernihiv, Ukraine, a city about two hours north of Kyiv. Jimmy was among dozens of civilians killed by an onslaught of Russian artillery fire on Thurs., March 17. He was 68 years old.

Jimmy was in the country to teach, but stayed even after the invasion, despite deteriorating conditions and increasing danger. He wanted to be by the side of his long-time partner, Iryna Teslenko. She had been hospitalized to receive treatment for a chronic condition, and she was too ill to flee the invasion.

Despite the growing risk beyond the hospital walls, Jimmy ventured out in search of food. He was waiting in a bread line with several others when they were targeted by Russian gunfire, said his sister Cheryl Hill Gordon in a Facebook post. After the attack was over, the beloved teacher was found dead with his US passport on his body, reported the Wall Street Journal.

Jimmy, a native of Minnesota, possessed a degree in social work. For the past 25 years, he has taught various universities throughout Europe, including a stint as an Associate Professor in the Foreign Language and Philology Departments at the University of South Bohemia in Ceske Budejovice. He also worked as a guest lecturer at MCI Management Center Innsbruck, and as a lecturer at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv.
Jimmy also taught at the Prague Summer Schools. “This is with a great regret that we heard about the tragic death of professor Jimmy Hill,” posted the Prague Summer Schools on Facebook. “Jimmy was a passionate teacher in our Summer School on Crime, Law and Psychology program since 2014 and was loved by the students from all over the world. We will miss Jimmy very much.” The school offers academic programs covering the social sciences, including European politics, economics, psychology education, and current event.

Bertha Boschulte: Talented teacher and tireless women’s suffragist

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Teacher, principal, and public health official Bertha Boschulte of the Virgin Islands was also a tireless women’s suffragist. Photo Credit: Public Domain

Many talented educators devote their considerable energy to social issues. One of these was Bertha Boschulte, a teacher, principal, and public health worker from the Virgin Islands who dedicated herself to women’s suffrage in her home territory.

Bertha was born on March 30, 1906, in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. After her graduation from Charlotte Amalie Junior/Senior High School, she taught for one year. Then she moved to the mainland, where she settled in the state of Virginia and enrolled in the Hampton Institute. There she earned her Bachelor’s degree, with distinction, in English and Mathematics in 1929.

Following her graduation from college, Bertha returned to the Virgin Islands, where she accepted a teaching position at her alma mater, Charlotte Amalie High School. During the next few years, while teaching and serving as the secretary of the St. Thomas Teachers Association, Bertha became a champion of the women’s suffrage movement. She was one of numerous women teachers who attempted to register to vote and had been denied. The teachers’ union filed a lawsuit, and earned a ruling in their favor.

By 1938, Bertha had been promoted to be principal of the Charlotte Amalie school, but after a few years, she decided to return to the United States, where she enrolled at Columbia University’s Teachers College. There she earned her Master’s degree in Educational Administration in 1945. After securing her teaching credential in 1946, Bertha accepted a teaching position at New York’s PS 81.

While in New York, the forward-thinking educator became involved with the International Assembly of Women, a conference organized by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt to advance the goals of political equality for women and support the establishment of the United Nations. In 1947, Bertha returned to the Virgin Islands, where she worked with colleagues to establish a teachers’ institute to offer training to educators who wanted to improve their instructional practices.

Bertha launched a new chapter of her life in 1950 when she relocated to Ann Arbor, Michigan, to pursue a Master’s degree in Public Health. The following year, her goal achieved, she returned to the Virgin Islands, where she was appointed the Director of the Statistical Service for the territory’s Health Department. She served in that department until 1963. In 1964, this amazing former teacher was elected to the Legislature of the Virgin Islands, where she served one two-year term as a Senator. In 1969, Bertha was appointed to serve on the Commission on the Status of Women, and in 1970, she was elected to the Board of the Territorial Department of Education, where she was served as the Chairperson.

For her tireless work as an educator, public health official, and women’s suffragist, Bertha was named Woman of the Year by the Federation of Business and Professional Women in 1965. In 1981, the Bertha C. Boschulte Middle School in Bovoni was named in her honor. This Chalkboard Hero passed away on August 18, 2004. She was 98 years old.